Social relationships are pivotal for human beings. Yet, we still lack a complete understanding of the types and conditions of social relationships that facilitate learning among children. Here, we present the results of a study involving 855 elementary school children from 14 different public schools in Chile designed to understand their social learning strategies in classrooms. We mapped students' social relationships using a behavioral experiment--a non-anonymous social dilemma--that allows us to measure cooperation and infer reciprocal and asymmetrical relationships between peers. We implemented the experiment synchronously in each classroom using networked tablets and a friendly user interface to mitigate cognitive barriers and boost students' engagement. We found a positive and signi?cant association between reciprocity and academic performance using regression models. This result holds after controlling for class attendance, sex, parents' education, social status, individual cooperative dispositions, and ?fixed e?ects per class group. Finally, using a difference in difference identi?cation strategy, we found that reciprocity heightens academic performance by comparing two consecutive academic semesters. This effect is heterogeneous and is considerably more prominent for the top 20% of students experiencing higher levels of reciprocity in their social relationships. We expect these results to inform cooperative learning interventions in elementary education.
In the complex landscape of primary education, the nexus between cooperation and bullying is a subtle yet vital thread that weaves together the social dynamics of the classroom. Here, we probed this interplay, examining a diverse sample of 1,137 students dispersed across 47 public primary classrooms in Chile. Using a video-game interface to create a dyadic non-anonymous social dilemma, we charted the underlying cooperative network of each classroom. Complementing this, we collected data on bullying interactions, employing peer nominations and controlling for demographic and classroom context in a multilevel regression analysis. Our analysis unveils a robust negative correlation between the receipt of cooperation and the bully-victim category—students entangled in a dual role of both victim and perpetrator. Remarkably, this relationship persists even after stringent statistical controls, casting new light on the intricate relationships within the classroom ecosystem. Our findings thus extend beyond mere statistical observation to provide a fundamental understanding of the relationship between cooperation and bullying behavior, signposting a promising avenue for designing targeted interventions in primary education. By connecting the microcosm of the classroom with broader social phenomena, this study contributes to an evolving dialogue on human interaction and education, offering fresh insights to shape future educational policies and practices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.